


SIDESTEP

by gumscale



Category: ITZY (Band), TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: ....or at least an attempt, Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Kissing Booth, M/M, Thanks, hueningkai doesn't know what he's doing pt.2, i know it doesn't make any sense just, read the fic, soobin's rich, sookai gay, with kissing and without the kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24775531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gumscale/pseuds/gumscale
Summary: Kai is seriously, seriouslythisclose to quitting his job at the fundraising booth.
Relationships: Choi Soobin & Huening Kai, Choi Soobin/Huening Kai
Comments: 11
Kudos: 145





	SIDESTEP

**Author's Note:**

> yep. i'm having too much fun with this au so i'm thinking about making it a series. anyone up for that?
> 
> hope you enjoy :)

Kai is seriously, seriously _this_ close to quitting his job at the fundraising booth.

Not that his job is hard, hell no. He’s just the cashier man, there just to collect money while the girls do all the job. But that’s _exactly_ where the problem lies; the girls are popular as hell and that much of popularity equals a long line of suitors every single day. And more, Kai has to fight it out with Yuna so the younger would let him wear regular clothes all day (well, not that Kai is anywhere near something so boring and common as _regular_ but you know) instead of the boring blue uniform (and this is still top of his list on why he will _not_ be transferring to Yonsei thank _you_ ). And doing it along with his responsibility as the music club’s main vocal is infuriatingly time-consuming.

But Kai finds he likes his days like that - jam-packed with something he's supposed to be doing every waking moment. It gives everything a little bit of structure, makes it somehow _more_ manageable rather than the hectic mess it sounds like it would be. Plus, this way, he has less time to sit around and get distracted by thoughts that run through his head that he would rather not be thinking, thoughts of a familiar purple-headed boy that still creep into the back of his head when he sniffs out caramel popcorn or catches a strain of Troye Sivan lyrics, respectively.

Unfortunately, with this current fundraising situation, he's got plenty of time to just sit around doing basically nothing. And quitting is starting to look more and _more_ appealing.

"Is this even legal?" he grumbles to Yuna, head slumped onto the pillow of his arms at the white plastic table they're using. "It's basically prostitution."

"No, but it brings lotta money so we just gonna do what we gonna do," she murmurs back, and it takes Kai a good thirty seconds to stop himself from groaning out in despair. At any rate, he can't think on it for too long, because here comes another dirty-looking boy with the leftover change from buying his lunch.

"What can I get for thirty-seven cents?" he pants, his clammy hand smearing the dimes and pennies into Kai's and seriously messing up his moisturizing? This is _unforgivable_.

"The same thing you got _yesterday_ for thirty-seven cents," bites Yeji. She rips a corner off a sheet of paper from her geometry notebook, presses her lips to it to create a perfect shimmer-red print, and then uses the lip-gloss residue to stick it to the boy's forehead. They all watch, gagging, as he peels it off and slips it into his pocket - way, way too deep into his pocket.

"Look out, ladies, I'm breaking my piggy bank open tomorrow." He shuffles away and for a moment Kai is pretty sure Ryujin is actually going to vomit into the cashbox. He just closes it up and flops his head back down.

So it’s basically like this: Kai mans the cashbox for first lunch. Wooyoung does it for second lunch. The rest of the cheerleaders - the hot ones, the ones that everyone _would_ want this sort of thing from - sell kisses at the freaking _kissing booth_.

"Is my breath okay?" asks Lia, leaning in Yeji's face.

"Let me see," says Yeji. She basically eats Lia's face off in the middle of the cafeteria, and when they're finished it's enough that she has to wipe her mouth. "No you seem fine to me."

"Okay, good. I'm almost out of gum."

"You should be charging for that too!" a basketball jock catcalls from a few tables over, and Yeji fixes him with a death stare.

"That's the preview. You want the real deal, it's four bucks."

"Your sign says two!"

"You have to pay for her to kiss me _and_ you have to pay for me to kiss her."

Kai slumps into the table. _This_. Close. To. Quitting. And it's only Tuesday.

Lunch is almost over when Kai's phone goes off pulsating in his pocket with a text message, and when he pulls it out the display reads _Soobin_.

**From: _Soobinie_**  
how’s the business? you doing okay?

Kai would almost laugh if he weren't so miserable. Instead, he flips his phone open, leans backward across the table a little, and angles his camera lens up so the photo can encompass both the kissing booth sign and his bored-out-of-his-skull frown. The picture mail takes a few minutes to send - Kyunghee has traditionally crappy network service - and Kai has to scramble to put it away as a couple of guys from jazz band sidle up and request the services of Yuna and Chaeryoung, handing their cash to him only as an afterthought.

_All right today_. Yeah, right. Soobin's texts have dropped down to about one every couple of days because of he’s out of town for a competition, and he can usually time them right when Kai's at lunch and he's not interrupting anything, but he should know by now that Kai's days at Kyunghee are hardly ever _all right_. If it's not some stupid grape juice bullcrap or more unnecessary club drama, it's slushie dripping down the cowlneck of his third-favorite red sweater or Yunho passing him in the hallway between English and chemistry if he's running late. Or Hoseok, his older brother, nosing into his business, always wondering if there's a _nice young man in his life._

Or Soobin. Being a nice young man. In his life.

...yeah, especially that last one.

The bell rings at long last and Kai locks up the cashbox and drags it by their club room before hurrying to English. Just before he crosses the door to Mr. Namjoon's classroom, his phone goes off in his pocket again. _Soobin._

**From: _Soobinie_**  
you’re undercharging.

Despite how freaking cryptic that is - despite _himself_ \- Kai smiles.

Wednesday things get a little better. The huge rush right at the beginning of the lunch hour dies down faster than usual, and Mr. Seokjin has actually done something vaguely close to praising him about the tidiness and accuracy with which he keeps the cashbox and the sales receipt book. More stupid boys sweep by for another pass - this time with enough for a real fully-paid kiss, though Yuna and Yeji make Chaeryoung do it - and Ryujin gives him a dollar and a peck on the cheek.

"You're a brave soul, man," she says, with a chuckle and an amused glance at Yeji (currently sucking face with Hyunjin, who slipped Kai a ten just moments earlier). Kai smiles, and tries not to think the word _courage_.

Thursday things get worse. On Thursday, jerks like Yunho and Hongjoong drop by and it drives him crazy to not only deal with _one_ jerk but two. At once.

"How's business, cutie?" drawls Hongjoong, rattling the cashbox loudly and way too close to Kai's face.

"We've made $475 since Monday," Kai answers, already mad at himself for flinching and refusing to budge otherwise.

" _We_ , he says," Yunho laughs. "Like anyone would pay to play tonsil hockey with you, pretty boy."

"No, you're right," says Kai, "—why pay for something you can just steal." He turns his glare as cold as he can muster and Yunho falters, just a little. If Hongjoong picks up on the weirdness he doesn't say anything.

Yeji, to her duty, at least kind of notices that something's going on. "What are you fools doing here?" she deadpans. "You don't even have first lunch."

"Had a math test that let out early," says Hongjoong, "and we're sick of Hwang and Kim. You know, grapeberry is my favorite flavor."

"Mine too!" says Chaeyoung with sudden and vague excitement. "Well, after pink lemonade."

In the end, Yunho gives Kai four dollars, and a subtle pinch at his tight. He kisses another volunteer cheerleader named Mia with about two-thirds of the intensity he'd kissed Kai with in the locker room a long time ago then proceeds to stare at him a little too long as they're leaving for the lunch line. _Thank Jesus and Shawn Mendes_ , thinks Kai, that Friday is the last day. Most of the boys will be broke, most people have kind of had their fill already, and they hit their fundraising goal forty dollars ago. Things can only go uphill from here.

Kai hunkers down into his salad behind the cashbox and when his phone pulses in his pocket, he ends up wither a fork in one hand and his cell in the other. Here it is, right on schedule. _Soobin_.

**From: _Soobinie_**  
hows business?

**To: _Soobinie_**  
blessedly slow.

Kai types back, as soon as he's got the lettuce all the way in his mouth.

**From: _Soobinie_**  
sorry.

Kai has about three more bites' worth to think on that - why in the hell Soobin would be sorry that the misery Kai's being forced through _isn't_ any more disgustingly "thrilling" than it has been? - when the rustling starts over at the far end of the cafeteria. There's a cluttering of people, about two degrees down in terms of excitement from what usually happens when a fight is about to start, and Kai's really glad he doesn't have any of his grape juice in his mouth when he figures out what's going on.

_Fucking hell._

Oh. No good. Bad. Kai is woefully unprepared for this. See, running into Soobin now would only be the fourth time they've seen each other face-to-face after their reconciliation, and the other three times Kai had totally planned it. What to say, for instance. How to act to make sure he didn't look like a total loser. What to _wear_. (Newsflash: the answer to that is not a boring pale blue uniform.)

The other three times, Kai also hadn't gone a month with Soobin's photo in his locker and Soobin's texts sitting in his inbox and Soobin's Strawerry & Cigarettes studio recording CD on repeat in his SUV. The other three times, Soobin also hadn't been kind of, in love with him? And they’re also weren’t, you know, _boyfriends_.

"A super-hot, super-tall guy with purple hair just rolled in here in a freaking BMW!" gushes Yuna, speeding up to the table and hunching in low next to where Ryujin and Chaeryoung. "You guys have _got_ to check this out - oh!"

Because there he is. He's got his Yonsei blazer unbuttoned ontop this skin-tight white shirt combined with a pair of black cargo pants, hands in his pockets and his newly-dyed purple hair in a styled mess. He looks good. He _smells_ good and he's like, two meters away. And that is so, _so_ bad.

"Hey ladies," he says, cranking his disarming grin onto Chaeryoung so hard that Kai is pretty sure he actually hears her squeal. "You still open for business?"

" _Open_? Is so the right word," says Ryujin, and as if to prove a point she spreads her legs a little further apart.

"You're not the default, are you?" he says. "I mean, no offense to you, sweetheart, it's just - I get to pick my prize, right?"

"It's like a carnival," says Lia, nodding.

Kai is, of course, pretending none of this is happening, and leaning down as close to the cash box and his salad and his bottle of grape juice as he possibly can. Eye contact is deadly. Ignorance is key.

Soobin is right in front of him and everything goes out the window.

"Excellent." Suddenly there's a pressure on Kai's chin, light and warm and wonderful, and it's Soobin's bigass hand, tipping his face upward, and Kai can see so many weird and beautiful and shockingly _interested_ things in the depths of Soobin's dark eyes. "Perfect."

The girls’ jaws are nearly to the floor as Kai sets down his salad fork and stands, just barely shorter than Soobin, their eyes still locked together.

"And you say it's two dollars a kiss?" says Soobin, right hand digging into his pants pocket for his wallet, his gaze never faltering. No. Kai’s legs aren’t turning to jelly.

Fuck they are definitely turning to jelly. _Please_ , somebody, anybody, _help_ him.

"That's what the sign says," chirps Yeji, a ( _reassuring?_ ) note of amusement coloring the disbelief in her voice.

Soobin unfurls from his leather billfold a crisp brand-spanking-new hundred-dollar bill.

"What can I get for this?"

Kai's head reels, and he nearly has to sit back down in his chair. His legs are jelly alright.

Sometimes it's so easy to forget that Yonsei is a private school, and that you have to _pay_ to go there, and that of _course_ Soobin would have money to drop on something this ridiculous. And it's also really hard for Kai to imagine anyone - especially a boy, especially a really gay really _hot_ boy - thinking he's worth a hundred-dollars.

By now there's a giant halo of people around them in the cafeteria, all eyes trained on the kissing booth and everyone remarkably quiet, and Kai can barely even see them as Soobin walks around the table to stand at his side and leans in close.

"This doesn't have to count unless you want it to," he says. "I mean, it's basically prostitution." He inches even closer, lips almost brushing Kai's ear as he whispers. "But I just can't take it anymore. I have to make sure people _know_ , don't you?"

In front of a good half of the student body, Soobin seals his lips over Kai's in what he’s pretty sure is the single hottest most luscious kiss that has ever come to pass between two human beings, let alone two boys, let alone Kai and anyone _ever_. Tendrils of electric fire curl through every soft and longing part of Kai, making the muscles in his jaw tense up fiercer which, of course, has this unfortunate side effect of making the kiss even deeper and more forceful. Kai whines into the kiss and not only that seems to excites Soobin, the sound also makes him lose his own mind to the feverish kiss.

For a few minutes that's all Kai's even capable of feeling, the thick hot heavy pressure of Soobin's lush lips sliding over and around and across his own, but once the explosive, soul-melting novelty of that wears off he begins to notice other things that make it even better.

Like the way Soobin's crooking both his bigass hands around into the small of his back and is just sort of pressing there, not trying to push him in any way, just a sort of hot-palmed suggestion like _you could maybe curl closer if you wanted to,_ and damn does Kai want to, and he does, hips aligned tightly together to the point that Kai kind of has to half-sit on the table top and Soobin ends up bracing one hand against its surface behind him. Or the spot just behind Soobin's ear where Kai has buried his own hand in his newly dyed purple hair, this great place up underneath that doesn't feel like two pounds of product but just feels soft and thick and oh, _grabbable_ , like his fingers will never untangle and that's quite all right with both of them. And just when he thinks he's got a handle on all of it, Kai remembers that oh, yeah, _Soobin's tongue is about halfway down his throat in the middle of the Kyunghee’s cafeteria._

When they break apart, Soobin's lower lip is so plump-flushed red that Kai has to bite it a little before he lets him speak.

"So that's, what, about seventy-dollars worth?" The older stammers, obviously a little nervous about the degree to which they've put on a display here. How could he turn from _that_ to _this_ shy boy is still a mystery to him.

Kai, who has decided he probably will quit the fundraiser after all, couldn't care less.

"If you had just said that's what you wanted," he breathes, mentally adding the _instead of being so damn confusing_ for his own sake, "I probably would have done it for free."

Soobin’s smiles so wide his dimples show and _hell yes,_ Kai is so gonna quit and spend all his free time kissing this sweet boy in front of him.


End file.
